Harmothoë

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In

romanized: Harmothóē) is a minor character, the wife of Pandareus
and the mother of his children. Harmothoë usually joins Pandareus in his demise when he angers the gods.

Family

Harmothoë's parentage and homeland are unknown. She married

Merope.[1] Pausanias calls the later two Cameiro and Clytie,[2] while Antoninus Liberalis writes that Pandareus and his wife (whom he does not name) had two daughters named Aëdon and Chelidon and an unnamed son.[3]

Mythology

After her husband failed to steal a golden dog from

Furies; Aëdon meanwhile was wed to Zethus and bore him a son named Itylus.[1]

In a myth preserved by Antoninus Liberalis (who does not confirm the identity of Pandareus's wife as Harmothoë), Aëdon's husband Polytechnus rapes and forces the virgin Chelidon into slavedom. The two sisters manage to escape and find shelter with their parents, while their servants tie up Polytechnus, smear him with honey and leave him to the insects. Aëdon however pitied him so she kept the flies at bay. Pandareus, the wife and the brother perceived this as betrayal, and tried to attack Aëdon.[7] Zeus then transformed the entire family and Polytechnus into birds, with the wife becoming a kingfisher.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Eustathius on Homer's Odyssey 19.517
  2. ^ Pausanias 10.30.2
  3. ^ a b Antoninus Liberalis, 11 as cited in Boeus' Ornithogonia
  4. ISSN 1574-9347
    . Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  5. ^ Smith 1873, s.v. Pandareos.
  6. ^ Bell 1991, pp. 215–16.
  7. ^ Forbes Irving 1990, pp. 100–101.

Bibliography